System and method to optimally apply local retention in a remote repository

ABSTRACT

An electronic-discovery system and method, wherein content items and hold anchors are stored in a repository, tracking objects and representational anchor objects are stored in a database system, and the tracking objects represent the content items and the representational anchor objects represent the hold anchors. A first hold anchor is used for placing a hold on the content items for a first defined period of time, and a first representational anchor object and one or more of the tracking objects are used for representing and tracking the holds for the first defined period of time. When the first defined period of time expires, a second hold anchor is used for placing the hold on the content items for a second defined period of time, and a second representational anchor object and the tracking objects are used for representing and tracking the holds for the second defined period of time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of the following co-pending andcommonly-assigned patent application:

U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 15/704,772, filed on Sep. 14,2017, by Raj esh M. Desai et al., entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TOOPTIMALLY APPLY LOCAL RETENTION IN A REMOTE REPOSITORY,” attorneysdocket number SVL920170049US1 (G&C 30571.0372US01);

which application is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Electronic discovery (e-discovery) is a procedure by which parties in alegal matter preserve, collect, review, and exchange electronicallystored information (ESI). There are many different types of ESI that maybe sought in e-discovery, such as email and word processing documents,as well as databases and other data stores.

Typically, the e-discovery process is set in motion as soon aslitigation is reasonably foreseeable, which triggers the legal duty topreserve potentially relevant ESI. Attorneys from both sides determinethe scope of e-discovery, identify and preserve the relevant ESI, andmake e-discovery requests and challenges.

After relevant ESI is identified, it needs to be protected from“spoliation,” i.e., any destruction or alteration of evidence. Whilethere are different ways to preserve ESI, the most common is through alegal hold process. A legal hold is a formal communication sent torelevant custodians instructing them not to delete ESI (or paperdocuments) that may be relevant to the legal matter.

One common preservation method is a collect-to-preserve approach thatcollects relevant data by copying it from a data source to a repository.The collect-to-preserve approach is often recommended for highlyrelevant ESI or ESI at a high risk of deletion.

Another preservation method is a preserve-in-place approach thatmaintains ESI at the data source. A preservation application eitherinhibits any attempts by custodians to delete ESI or maintains backupcopies of ESI at the repository to prevent any loss of data.

In many ways, preservation may be the most difficult portion of thee-discovery process. It involves taking steps to ensure that potentiallyrelevant data is not destroyed or altered during the pendency of thelegal matter. Preservation failures can result in a variety ofsanctions.

Thus, there is a need in the art for improvements in e-discoverysystems, for example, recovery from failures, as well as optimization ofholds and releases. The present invention satisfies this need.

SUMMARY

The invention provided herein has a number of embodiments useful, forexample, in e-discovery systems and methods that perform the following:storing one or more content items and one or more hold anchors in arepository; storing one or more tracking objects and one or morerepresentational anchor objects in a database system, wherein each ofthe tracking objects represents one of the content items and each of therepresentational anchor objects represents one of the hold anchors;using a first one of the hold anchors for placing one or more holds onone or more of the content items in the repository for a first definedperiod of time, and representing and tracking the holds using a firstone of the representational anchor objects and one or more of thetracking objects in the database system for the first defined period oftime; and when the first defined period of time expires, using a secondone of the hold anchors for placing the holds on the one or more of thecontent items in the repository system for a second defined period oftime, and representing and tracking the holds using a second one of therepresentational anchor objects and the one or more of the trackingobjects in the database system for the second defined period of time.The using steps may be repeated.

Each of the holds are placed only through the first or second one of thehold anchors and represented by the first or second one of therepresentational anchor objects. Moreover, the holds for the firstdefined period of time are related to the first one of the hold anchorsand represented by the first one of the representational anchor objects,and the holds for the second defined period of time are related to thesecond one of the hold anchors and represented by the second one of therepresentational anchor objects. Whenever one of the content items isplaced on one of the holds, a timestamp of the first or second one ofthe hold anchors and the first or second one of the representationalanchor objects is updated.

The systems and methods can recover from a failure of the repository ordatabase system by first restoring the repository, the database system,or the repository and the database system, such that the repository'sstate is ahead, in time, of the database system's state. Thereafter, thefollowing functions or steps are performed: (1) in the database system,locating one of the representational anchor objects with a latest starttime; (2) in the repository, finding the hold anchors that have atimestamp later than the latest start time; (3) in the repository,finding the content items that have been placed on one of the holds forthe hold anchors found in step (2); (4) in the database system, findingthe tracking objects that represent the content items found in step (3);(5) in the database system, performing a fixup on the representationalanchor objects for the tracking objects found in step (4), if thetracking objects are associated with a different one of therepresentational anchor objects, wherein the fixup is applied so thatthe representational anchor objects on the database system agree withthe hold anchors on the repository; (6) in the database system, addingthe tracking objects found in step (4) to a set B, if the trackingobjects represent the content items that have been placed on one of theholds; (7) in the repository, releasing or tracking the content itemsthat have been placed on one of the holds, for the tracking objectsfound in step (4), if the tracking objects and the representationalanchor objects indicate that the content items are not on one of theholds; (8) in the repository, optionally removing the hold anchors thatdo not have corresponding representational anchor objects in thedatabase system; (9) in the database system, finding the trackingobjects that represent the content items that have been placed on one ofthe holds due to any of the hold anchors found in step (2) and thenadding the tracking objects to a set A; (10) in the database system,determining the tracking objects in a set C, wherein the set C=set A−setB; and (11) in the repository, placing one of the holds on the contentitems represented by the tracking objects in the set C. Only the contentitems placed on one of the holds or released from one of the holds afterthe latest start time are considered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers representcorresponding parts throughout:

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing environment according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts abstraction model layers according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a distributed computing environment according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating the processing steps thatare performed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way ofillustration one or more specific embodiments in which the invention maybe practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may beutilized and structural and functional changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention.

Overview

In a distributed computing environment implementing e-discoveryincluding preservation/retention management, where the systems involvedare truly disparate and there is no single encompassing transaction andrecovery domain, providing a mechanism for cohesive and consistentrecovery between the systems involved can be difficult, and a recoveryfix up process itself can take a significant amount of time given thatit can span a very large set of items to reconcile. The general issue isthat when systems restart after some kind of failure or set of failures,synchronization is required before further processing can continue, andthe time it takes to synchronize between systems is roughly dependent onthe related items across the multiple systems using an exhaustiveapproach. What is required is a more optimal design wherepreservation/retention state changes for items are time-bound in someway to reduce the cost to apply the preservation/retention as well asany required resynchronization work when recovery is called for underconditions of crashes and disaster recovery scenarios.

Cloud Computing

It is to be understood that although this disclosure includes a detaileddescription on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recitedherein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure that includes anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, illustrative cloud computing environment 10 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 10 includes one or morecloud computing nodes 11 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 12A, desktop computer 12B, laptop computer 12C,and/or automobile computer system 12N may communicate. Nodes 11 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 10 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 12A-N shownin FIG. 1 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes11 and cloud computing environment 10 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 2, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 10 (FIG. 1) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 20 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include: one or morecomputers such as mainframes 21, RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers 22, servers 23, and blade servers 24; storagedevices 25; and networks and networking components 26. In someembodiments, software components include network application serversoftware 27 and database software 28.

Virtualization layer 30 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers31; virtual storage 32; virtual networks 33, including virtual privatenetworks; virtual applications and operating systems 34; and virtualclients 35.

In one example, management layer 40 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning 41 provides dynamic procurement ofcomputing resources and other resources that are utilized to performtasks within the cloud computing environment 10. Metering and pricing 42provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloudcomputing environment 10, and billing or invoicing for consumption ofthese resources. In one example, these resources may include applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal 43 provides access to the cloud computing environment 10 forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management 44, whichincludes containers, provides cloud computing resource allocation andmanagement such that required service levels are met. Service LevelAgreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment 45 provide pre-arrangement for,and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a futurerequirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 50 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment 10 may be utilized. Examples of workloads,tasks and functions which may be provided from this layer include:e-discovery processing 51; transaction processing 52; mapping andnavigation 53; software development and lifecycle management 54; virtualclassroom education delivery 55; etc.

Distributed Computing Environment

The cloud computing environment 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2 may be used toimplement a distributed computing environment. One example of adistributed computing environment comprises the e-discovery processing51 across one or more nodes 11.

FIG. 3 illustrates a distributed computing environment used for thee-discovery processing 51, according to one embodiment. The distributedcomputing environment used for the e-discovery processing 51 iscomprised of the following systems and components:

-   -   at least one database (DB) system 60, which is one or more nodes        11 that execute one or more database management systems (DBMS)        61 to manage and control one or more data stores 62; and    -   at least one repository 63, which is one or more nodes 11 that        execute one or more preservation/retention management systems        (PRMS) 64 to manage and control one or more data stores 65.

Although the present invention is described herein as being implementedon the database system 60 and repository 63, it could be implemented onother nodes 11 as well.

The repository 63 is a system for storing data (often called content)and information about that data (often called metadata). The repository63 is where an enterprise will store documents, spreadsheets, emails,videos and many other types of content. The content and its metadata canbe considered a content item 66, wherein one or more content items arestored in the repository 63.

The DB system 60 stores one or more tracking objects 67 for the contentitems 66 stored in the repository 63. Typically, there will be atracking object 67 in the DB system 60 that represents each content item66 in the repository 63.

The repository 63 also stores one or more hold anchors 68. When acontent item 66 is placed on hold in the repository 63, the hold isdefined by a relationship between the content item 66 and an associatedhold anchor 68.

For each hold anchor 68 in the repository 63, there is arepresentational (rep.) anchor object 69 in the DB system 60 thatrepresents the hold anchor 68. Likewise, the hold relationship betweenthe content item 66 and its associated hold anchor 68 in the repository63 is reflected by a relationship between the tracking object 67 and anassociated representational anchor object 69 in the DB system 60.

Hold Processing

The utility and performance of the repository 63 and PRMS 64 can beenhanced by using the DB system 60 and DBMS 61 in conjunction with therepository 63 and PRMS 64. However, as there are now two systems 60, 63involved, presumably with different transactional models, a differentapproach is required for failure handling. For the sake of simplicity, asingle one of each DB system 60 and repository 63 is considered herein;however, this invention is easily extended over multiple ones of the DBsystem 60 and repository 63, where each are independent transaction andrecovery domains.

When a content item 66 is required to be put on hold, that operation isspread across the two systems 60, 63, and is therefore not atomic.First, the DB system 60 will do some setup work, then the hold will beapplied to the content item 66 by the repository 63 using the holdanchor 68, and then the hold will be recorded for the tracking object 67by the DB system 60 using the representational anchor object 69.

The DB system 60 provides some unique approaches to enhance thepreservation/retention capabilities of the repository 63, and theseapproaches are key to enabling recovery. The DB system 60 has a trackingmechanism, so that every content item 66 in the repository 63, whetherpreserved/retained or not, will be represented by a tracking object 67in the DB system 60. In addition, the DB system 60 will trackpreservation/retention holds for the content items 66 defined by thehold anchors 68 using the corresponding representational anchor objects69 for the corresponding tracking objects 67. This enables therepository 63 to be invoked only when the first preservation/retentionhold is placed on a content item 66, and when the lastpreservation/retention hold is removed from the content item 66. The DBsystem 60 provides its own internal counting mechanism for how manytimes preservation/retention holds have been placed/removed for eachcontent item 66, and allows for there to only ever be zero or onepreservation/retention holds on the content item 66 (and this is one ofthe important aspects that allows for speedy recovery.) The DB system 60can also provide many different ways of controlling, grouping and/ormanaging preservation/retention holds that may not be available in therepository 63 itself.

The capability of the DB system 60 in counting and tracking of thenumber of preservation/retention holds applicable to a content item 66allows the DB system 60 to affect a preservation/retention system ofsignificantly increased performance than using the capabilities of therepository 63 alone. It also allows the DB system 60 to provide atime-based retention system for the repository 63, even though therepository 63 may only support simple preservation holds. The DB system60 records and operates on retention durations for the different typesof classifications for the content items 66, and when the longestduration has expired, the DB system 60 removes the hold from the contentitem 66 in the repository 63. Optionally, the DB system 60 could alsodelete that content item 66 from the repository 63.

When a fatal error occurs, it may be necessary to restore one or both ofthe systems 60, 63 from a backup. However, there is a strong possibilitythat, after the restore, the two systems 60, 63 and their data stores62, 65 are not synchronized. In order to address this, synchronizedbackups could be one solution, but they are almost impossible tocoordinate exactly, and there can still be synchronization issues due tothe distributed, non-atomic operations. Consequently, a mechanism isrequired to synchronize the two systems 60, 63 after a failure and arestore.

In one embodiment, it is assumed that when a backup of the repository 63is restored (i.e., a backup of the data store 65 is restored), anearlier backup of the DB system 60 is also restored (i.e., a backup ofthe data store 62 is restored), so that the DB system 60 and its datastore 62 are “at an earlier point in time” than the repository 63 andits data store 65. The synchronization that is then required is to “pullback” the repository 63, so that the repository 63 is in synchronizationwith the DB system 60 with respect to preservation/retention holds, atthe time of the restore of the DB system. With potentially many contentitems 66 on hold, this could take a very long time with exhaustive A vs.B differentials between the systems 60, 63, and will not meet commonstandards for up-time and restoration of service.

In one embodiment, the hold anchors 68 are time-boxed, wherein atime-box is a defined period of time during which the hold associatedwith the hold anchor 68 must be accomplished. With time-boxed holdanchors 68, the problem is made more manageable.

The steps involve using a first one of the hold anchors 68 for placingone or more holds on one or more of the content items 66 in therepository 63 for a first defined period of time, and representing andtracking the holds using a first one of the representational anchorobjects 69 and one or more of the tracking objects 67 in the DB system60 for the first defined period of time. When the first defined periodof time expires, the steps involve using a second one of the holdanchors 68 for placing the holds on the one or more of the content items66 in the repository system 63 for a second defined period of time, andrepresenting and tracking the holds using a second one of therepresentational anchor objects 69 and the one or more of the trackingobjects 67 in the DB system 60 for the second defined period of time.These steps may be repeated.

Each of the holds are placed only through the first or second one of thehold anchors 68 and the first or second one of the representationalanchor objects 69. As a result, the holds for the first defined periodof time are related to the first one of the hold anchors 68 andrepresented by the first one of the representational anchor objects 69,and the holds for the second defined period of time are related to thesecond one of the hold anchors 68 and represented by the second one ofthe representational anchor objects 69. Whenever one of the contentitems 66 is placed on one of the holds, a timestamp of the first orsecond one of the hold anchors 68 and the first or second one of therepresentational anchor objects 69 is updated. Thus, it is assumed thatthe hold anchors 68 and representational anchor objects 69, includingtheir start and end times, are currently synchronized between therepository 63 and the DB system 60, and can be used for recovery after afailure of the DB system 60 and/or repository 63.

Flowcharts

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates the actions performed when a holdis requested:

Block 70 represents a hold request being initiated for a content item 66using the hold anchor 68.

Block 71 represents the hold request being committed to the DB system60, as a representational anchor object 69 for the tracking object 67.

Block 72 represents the hold being queued to be replicated to therepository 63, wherein a single logical queue manages all holds andreleases of holds, with holds taking priority over releases of holds.

Block 73 represents the hold being propagated from the DB system 60 tothe repository 63, wherein a single request is propagated at a time.

Block 74 represents the hold being tracked using a (first) definedperiod of time, such that, when the defined period of time expires, anew (second) defined period of time is initiated and used to track thehold by the hold anchor 68 on the content item 66.

Block 75 represents the hold being replicated to the repository 63, sothat the hold anchor 68 for the content item 66 on the repository 63mirrors the representational anchor object 69 for the tracking object 67on the DB system 60.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates the actions performed when arelease is requested:

Block 80 represents a release request being initiated for a content item66 that is on hold using the hold anchor 68.

Block 81 represents the release request being committed to the DB system60, to remove the hold by the representational anchor object 69 on thetracking object 67.

Block 82 represents the release request being queued to be replicated tothe repository 63, wherein a single logical queue manages all holds andreleases of holds, with holds taking priority over releases of holds.

Block 83 represents the release being propagated from the DB system 60to the repository 63, wherein a single request is propagated at a time.

Block 84 represents the release being replicated to the repository 63,so that the hold anchor 68 for the content item 66 on the repository 63mirrors the representational anchor object 69 for the tracking object 67on the DB system 60.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart that illustrates the actions performed after arestore of the DB system 60, the repository 63, or both the DB system 60and repository 63, such that the repository's 63 state is ahead, intime, of the DB system's 60 state (and assuming both systems 60, 63 areoperational, but in a quiesced and unusable state until recovery hasbeen completed):

Block 90 represents, in the DB system 60, locating one of therepresentational anchor objects 69 (this is the representational anchorobject 69 that would have been active at the time of the backup) with alatest start time t1.

Block 91 represents, in the repository 63, finding all the hold anchors68 that have a timestamp later than the latest start time t1 (this willprovide all hold anchors 68 that have participated in hold or releaseoperations after t1).

Block 92 represents, in the repository 63, finding all the content items66 that have been placed on hold for all the hold anchors 68 found inBlock 91.

Block 93 represents, in the DB system 60, finding all the trackingobjects 67 that represent the content items 66 found in Block 92.

Block 904 represents, in the DB system 60, performing a fixup on therepresentational anchor objects 69 for the tracking objects 67 found inBlock 93, if the tracking objects 67 are associated with a differentrepresentational anchor object 69, wherein the fixup is applied so thatthe representational anchor objects 69 on the DB system 60 agree withthe hold anchors 68 on the repository 63.

Block 95 represents, in the DB system 60, adding the tracking objects 67found in Block 93 to set B, if the tracking objects 67 represent thecontent items 66 that have been placed on hold (regardless of whetherthere is agreement between the hold anchor 68 and representationalanchor object 69).

Block 96 represents, in the repository 63, releasing or tracking thecontent items 66 that have been placed on hold, for the tracking objects67 found in Block 73, if the tracking objects 67 and representationalanchor objects 69 indicate that the content items 66 are not on hold.

Block 97 represents, in the repository 63, optionally removing the holdanchors 68 that do not have corresponding representational anchorobjects 69 in the DB system 60.

Block 98 represents, in the DB system 60, finding all the trackingobjects 67 that represent the content items 66 that have been placed onhold due to any of the hold anchors 68 found in Block 91 and then addingthe found tracking objects 67 to set A.

Block 99 represents, in the DB system 60, determining the trackingobjects 67 in set C, wherein set C=set A−set B.

Block 100 represents, in the repository 63, placing holds on the contentitems 66 represented by the tracking objects 67 in set C (using thecurrent hold anchor 68).

In this manner, rather than performing a full differential between theDB system 60 and the repository 63 to locate content items 66, trackingobjects 67, hold anchors 68 and representational anchor objects 69, thatdisagree in their hold/release states, only those content items 66,tracking objects 67, hold anchors 68 and representational anchor objects69, that participated in hold/release operations after the currentrepresentational anchor object 69 started being used at the latest starttime t1 need be considered, and a more efficient recovery can beperformed.

Computer Program Product

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product at any possible technical detail level of integration.The computer program product may include a computer readable storagemedium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereonfor causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, oreither source code or object code written in any combination of one ormore programming languages, including an object oriented programminglanguage such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages. The computer readable program instructions may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including,for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gatearrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute thecomputer readable program instructions by utilizing state information ofthe computer readable program instructions to personalize the electroniccircuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart illustrationsand/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable programinstructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage mediumthat can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus,and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that thecomputer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereincomprises an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart illustrations and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart illustrations and block diagrams in the Figures illustratethe architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of systems, methods, and computer program productsaccording to various embodiments of the present invention. In thisregard, each block in the flowchart illustrations or block diagrams mayrepresent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprisesone or more executable instructions for implementing the specifiedlogical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functionsnoted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the Figures. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executedsubstantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It willalso be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, can be implemented by special purposehardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts orcarry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computerinstructions.

CONCLUSION

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:storing one or more content items and one or more hold anchors in atleast one repository; storing one or more tracking objects and one ormore representational anchor objects in at least one database system,wherein each of the tracking objects represents one of the content itemsand each of the representational anchor objects represents one of thehold anchors; using a first one of the hold anchors for placing one ormore holds on one or more of the content items in the repository for afirst defined period of time, and representing and tracking the holdsusing a first one of the representational anchor objects and one or moreof the tracking objects in the database system for the first definedperiod of time; and when the first defined period of time expires, usinga second one of the hold anchors for placing the holds on the one ormore of the content items in the repository system for a second definedperiod of time, and representing and tracking the holds using a secondone of the representational anchor objects and the one or more of thetracking objects in the database system for the second defined period oftime.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the using steps are repeated. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein each of the holds are placed only throughthe first or second one of the hold anchors and represented by the firstor second one of the representational anchor objects.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the holds for the first defined period of time arerelated to the first one of the hold anchors and represented by thefirst one of the representational anchor objects, and the holds for thesecond defined period of time are related to the second one of the holdanchors and represented by the second one of the representational anchorobjects.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein, whenever one of the contentitems is placed on one of the holds, a timestamp of the first or secondone of the hold anchors and the first or second one of therepresentational anchor objects is updated.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising recovering from a failure of the repository ordatabase system by restoring the repository, the database system, or therepository and the database system, such that the repository's state isahead, in time, of the database system's state.
 7. The method of claim6, wherein recovering from the failure of the repository or databasesystem further comprises: (1) in the database system, locating one ofthe representational anchor objects with a latest start time; (2) in therepository, finding the hold anchors that have a timestamp later thanthe latest start time; (3) in the repository, finding the content itemsthat have been placed on one of the holds for the hold anchors found instep (2); (4) in, the database system, finding the tracking objects thatrepresent the content items found in step (3); (5) in the databasesystem, performing a fixup on the representational anchor objects forthe tracking objects found in step (4), if the tracking objects areassociated with a different one of the representational anchor objects,wherein the fixup is applied so that the representational anchor objectson the database system agree with the hold anchors on the repository;(6) in the database system, adding the tracking objects found in step(4) to a set B, if the tracking objects represent the content items thathave been placed on one of the holds; (7) in the repository, releasingor tracking the content items that have been placed on one of the holds,for the tracking objects found in step (4), if the tracking objects andthe representational anchor objects indicate that the content items arenot on one of the holds; (8) in the repository, optionally removing thehold anchors that do not have corresponding representational anchorobjects in the database system; (9) in the database system, finding thetracking objects that represent the content items that have been placedon one of the holds due to any of the hold anchors found in step (2) andthen adding the tracking objects to a set A; (10) in the databasesystem, determining the tracking objects in a set C, wherein the setC=set A−set B; and (11) in the repository, placing one of the holds onthe content items represented by the tracking objects in the set C. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein only the content items placed on one ofthe holds after the latest start time are considered.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein only the content items released from one of the holdsafter the latest start time are considered.